As we head towards a new series of Strictly, I have taken a look back to see how close each of the 61 professional dancers has come to ‘overall perfection’. I have determined this by calculating the average of the highest score a dancer has received in each dance style.

A few points to clarify before we begin the countdown…

• All routines that were scored by 3 or 5 judges have been recalculated into a score out of 40.
• The maximum number of points a dancer could receive is 640, based on scoring 40 for every one of the 16 current dance styles.
• Dance styles which are no longer performed on the show, such as the Lindy Hop or Dance Fusion, have been excluded from the analysis.
• Each dancer’s overall average is calculated based on the total number of dance styles that were performed during the time that they were on the show. So, for example, professionals who left before Series 16 are not penalised for not having performed a Couple’s Choice routine.
• If, however, a dancer has simply chosen not to perform a dance style (for example, Dianne has not yet performed a Rumba on Strictly), this counts as a ‘zero’ score when calculating their overall average.

Big thank you to fellow “Strictly Statistician” James (Instagram: @drross365) for contributing this article to the StrictlyDB Blog.

20th Karen Hardy

Twelve of Karen’s highest dance style scores were achieved with Series 4 champion Mark Ramprakash. The one exception is unexpectedly the Cha Cha, with which Karen scored 29 points with Bill Turnbull (compared to just 27 with Mark).

Apart from Karen & Mark’s infamous Salsa, Karen’s next highest Strictly score was for this Argentine Tango.

19th Katya Jones

Katya has not been blessed with an abundance of high scoring dance partners, so unsurprisingly 12 of her highest scoring dance styles have been achieved with Series 15 champion Joe McFadden. These include a perfect score for the Charleston, and 39s for the Viennese Waltz & Showdance. Katya has only performed the Waltz once on Strictly, and this was actually her first ever routine on the show, which scored 21 with Ed Balls. Other dance styles which have the largest opportunity for improvement for Katya in 2023 are the Tango (26 with Mike Bushell) and the Jive (29 with Joe).

One of my favourite Katya routines is this 38 scoring Quickstep, which I feel has one of the best uses of VFX on the show.

18th Ola Jordan

Ola’s high dance style scores are split between just two partners; Series 7 champion Chris Hollins, and Ashley Taylor Dawson. Apart from that crowd pleasing Charleston, Ola’s highest scoring dance styles also occurred in the Series 7 Final, with her Foxtrot and Showdance both scoring 46 out of 50 (which equates to a score of 36.8 out of 40).

17th Karen Hauer

Although Karen is the only professional in the top twenty yet to receive a perfect score on the show, she is also the only female pro to have received a score of at least 30 points for each of the sixteen dance styles.

Karen’s highest scoring routines for each dance style includes routines with six different partners (Charles, Chris, Jamie, Jayde, Mark & Nicky). One of my favourites is this Blackpool Samba performed with Charles.

16th Vincent Simone

Vincent has an impressive set of scores; being one of only two professionals (along with Brendan) to achieve a perfect 40 for the Foxtrot, and one of eight to have scored 39 for the Rumba. Vincent would have comfortably finished in the top ten of this countdown had he not received a ‘zero’ for having never performed the Charleston.

Eight of Vincent’s highest dance style scores were achieved with Series 6 runner-up Rachel Stevens, including scores of 39 for the Argentine Tango, Rumba, Tango & Waltz (I am sure you can guess which judge awarded a 9 for each of these routines).

15th James Jordan

James earns bragging rights in the Jordan household, with an overall score that is 4.6 points higher than Ola’s total. This is despite him never having performed an Argentine Tango in his eight years on Strictly.

Eight of James’ highest dance style scores were performed with Series 10 runner-up Denise Van Outen, including this 39 scoring Tango.

14th Joanne Clifton

With only two partners on the show, it’s no surprise that 14 out of Joanne’s 15 highest dance style scores were obtained in her partnership with Series 14 winner Ore Oduba, including this Quickstep.

The one dance that Ore skipped in Series 14 was the Samba, and the 20 points that Scott Mills achieved for this dance style earns Joanne a place in the top 20.

13th Flavia Cacace

Flavia had seven dance partners on Strictly, however her 15 highest dance style scores were split between only two of them; Series 5 runner-up Matt Di Angelo and Series 10 winner Louis Smith.

Flavia is one of only two professionals (along with Aljaz) to earn a score of 40 for the Waltz.

12th Janette Manrara

Janette is perhaps best known for her Salsa routines, so surprisingly she actually has higher scores in seven other dance styles.

Janette’s final partnership on Strictly, with Series 18 runner-up HRVY, delivered eight of her highest dance style scores, including this Salsa.

11th Aljaz Skorjanec

The Couple’s Choice has a reputation for receiving high (& arguably overmarked) scores, and Aljaz is the only professional who has this as their lowest scoring dance style. Despite this score of only 23, Aljaz beats Janette’s overall total by two points.

Six of Aljaz’s dance partners (Abbey, Clara, Daisy, Gemma, Helen & Sara) helped him to at least one of his highest dance style scores. Here is his 39 scoring Viennese Waltz routine with Helen George.

NB All Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer photos on this article are surfaced and loaded directly from the BBC Strictly Come Dancing Website – they have not been copied, hosted or adapted on StrictlyDB.com.  The stills for embedded videos are provided by YouTube.